Keeping Beauty Real: Dove’s Commitment to Real Beauty

Twenty years ago, Dove made a stand in challenging false beauty standards. Today, as we transition into an era where 90% of content is predicted to be AI-generated by 2025*, Dove’s message still stands: keep beauty real. One in three women feel pressure to alter their appearance because of what they see online, even when they know the images are fake or AI-generated.

The rise of AI poses one of the greatest threats to real beauty in the last 20 years, meaning representation is more important than ever. That’s why in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Campaign for Real Beauty, Dove is renewing its vows to champion real beauty, with a commitment to never use AI to create or distort women’s images. While there has been some positive change, the state of beauty in 2024 still isn’t pretty. Dove’s latest campaign, The Code, looks at the impact of AI on beauty, while celebrating the lasting legacy Dove has built. 

The Dove Self-Esteem Project is the largest provider of self-esteem education of its kind. Dove are on a mission to boost confidence in 250 million young people around the world – by 2030. Together, we can reach millions more.

We evaluated ‘The Code’ using Ipsos’ best-in-class creative testing approach, Creative|Spark, which includes our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Social Power metrics. From the below results, it is evident that the creative possesses many of the unique characteristics of what we refer to as a Misfit, which helped fuel the campaign effectiveness (more on Misfits here).

1. Provides an engaging creative experience: The juxtaposition of the AI search results for “the most beautiful woman in the world” without and with the Dove Real Beauty filter evokes a strong emotional response from viewers and comes across as buzzworthy.
2. Strong narrative anchored in conveying empathy: The images of different women shown when the Dove Real Beauty filter is added to the AI search is deemed to be very surprising, relevant and credible coming from Dove.
3. A fresh and compelling creative idea: Taking a non-conformist approach, the ad leverages Dove’s Real Beauty equity, triggering more deliberative thinking when it comes to existing perceptions of “real beauty” and vowing not to use AI in their Real Beauty campaigns.
4. This contributes to the ad’s ability to drive brand growth: Strong Memorability and Virality of “The Code” will allow it to get noticed and talked about. Showcasing people in an inclusive and diverse manner contributes to more feeling that Dove fits their needs and ultimately brings consumers closer to the brand, sparking brand growth.

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* Dove Self-Esteem Project Research, “2024 The Real State of Beauty: a global report”